Um, we're still trying to figure out what we thought of the Japanese movie , which was screened as part of the SFIFF's Late Night series. Maybe if we'd had more of the Stella Artois they were passing out before the movie -- but we were too nervous about losing our place in the incredibly long line snaking around in some complicated formation involving the handicapped ramps to get ourselves a plastic cup.
So we thought Executive Koala was supposed to be about a human-sized koala bear navigating the treacherous world of Japanese office politics -- you know, a lot of giggly women saying, "Hai!" and men (and koala bears) bowing and saying "arigato gozaimas." Like Office Space, only with a koala and in Japanese. Fun! Right?
Well, you know, we saw that the second half of the movie was supposed to be the koala trying to figure out if he had anything to do with some mysterious murders around town or if he's just being set up -- but we were totally not prepared for the movie to turn into a slasher flick! We're not good with gore! Turns out the movie was less like Office Space and more like the Cindy Sherman's Office Killer instead. Also, we were kind of freaked out at how uncuddly the koala looked, along with his creepy prehensile hands. Look at his weird expression in that picture above!
Well, it's definitely going to be a Kult Klassic, and as cult classics go, it's not unentertaining. You might as well check it out; the theme song is pretty hilarious and all the stuffed animal characters are excellent. Executive Koala screens again at the Kabuki, at 4:15 on Monday.
Executive Koala